So, about those 'diminished levels of upward mobility' ...

They are not actually occurring. Escaping one's station is as possible now as it was before, according to a comprehensive examination of tax records by a pair of Harvard economists. The upshot: U.S. lawmakers may have to alter their rhetoric in this area to address the nation's upward mobility as compared to other countries, rather than prior U.S. generations.
http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/01/23/business/upward-mobility-has-not-declined-study-says.html?from=business

They are not actually occurring. Escaping one's station is as possible now as it was before, according to a comprehensive examination of tax records by a pair of Harvard economists. The upshot: U.S. lawmakers may have to alter their rhetoric in this area to address the nation's upward mobility as compared to other countries, rather than prior U.S. generations.

They are not actually occurring. Escaping one's station is as possible now as it was before, according to a comprehensive examination of tax records by a pair of Harvard economists. The upshot: U.S. lawmakers may have to alter their rhetoric in this area to address the nation's upward mobility as compared to other countries, rather than prior U.S. generations.

They are not actually occurring. Escaping one's station is as possible now as it was before, according to a comprehensive examination of tax records by a pair of Harvard economists. The upshot: U.S. lawmakers may have to alter their rhetoric in this area to address the nation's upward mobility as compared to other countries, rather than prior U.S. generations.

Wouldn't you expect mobility to have increased just based on the racial aspect? A person was legally and/or practically barred from succeeding in most places 50 years ago. The fact that it hasn't is something of an indictment, I think.